After winning the NCAA championship with Virginia a week ago, junior guard Ty Jerome has announced via Instagram that he’s entering the 2019 NBA draft and hiring an agent.

The NCAA’s new eligibility rules would allow Jerome to change his mind and withdraw from the draft by May 29 even after he signs with an agent. However, the wording of his announcement suggests he’s leaning strongly toward going pro, as he indicated that he’ll “forgo” his senior year of college.

Jerome is coming off a junior year in which he averaged 13.6 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.5 SPG with a .435/.399/.736 shooting line for the national champs. He also played a key role in the squad’s March Madness run, averaging 20.3 PPG, 7.0 APG, and 6.7 RPG in the Elite Eight, Final Four, and national title games.

Jerome ranks 29th on ESPN’s big board, which would make him a borderline first-round pick in this year’s draft.

De’Andre Hunter, Jerome’s teammate at Virginia, will likely join him in 2019’s draft pool soon. Hunter has yet to make an announcement one way or another, but ranks as the No. 5 prospect in ESPN’s top 100.

16 thoughts on “Virginia’s Ty Jerome Enters 2019 NBA Draft”

He’s a guy with a reasonably high floor who can contribute in different ways and is coached well. I highly doubt he’ll be a star, but he could be a really solid role player and in the late first or early second, he’d be a great pickup.

The Celtics will have at least three 1st round picks, and possibly 4 if the Memphis pick is outside the top 8 (which I hope doesn’t happen). I would love to see this kid in Celtics green. His game would play really well in Brad Stevens’ system.

I watched Virginia all year and I saw a guy closer to Chris Paul than Vinny Del Negro. He’s got that know how to play thing people saw this year in Luka Doncic. Best passer in college basketball, never stops moving, great ballhandler, shooting range. He’s slow like Bird was slow, it doesn’t matter. Guys want to play with feeders like that who can also shoot. He’s a coach on the floor too. Top 20 pick for me.